January 24th Declared “FoodCorps Day”

New Mexico Legislature declares every January 24th FoodCorps/AmeriCorps Day

Santa Fe, NM – January 24, 2012 – Today, following a civic engagement training organized by the local organization Farm to Table, participating FoodCorps and AmeriCorps service members will be recognized for their service in New Mexico communities. The legislature declared this day “FoodCorps/AmeriCorps Day.”

The proclamation, which is supported by Senator Pete Campos, will remain in effect each year going forward.

FoodCorps is a national organization that addresses childhood obesity and food insecurity in underserved communities.  It has service members in ten states including New Mexico, where five service members have been on the ground since mid-August. They are helping children reconnect with native foods and getting them excited about eating healthy fruits and vegetables through providing hands-on nutrition education programs, growing school gardens, and sourcing fresh, healthy, local food for school cafeterias.

FoodCorps’ local partner in Santa Fe County is Farm to Table, which works with organizations, schools, and programs to deliver direct food programming to schoolchildren; and, in organizational development work as communities improve their economies and food choices. They organized today’s civic engagement training with the goal of educating service members, community leaders and members of state and local food policy councils about the role of community in policy, and the connection between health equity and advocacy.

All five New Mexico FoodCorps service members will be presented with certificates and service member Kristi Silva will sit on the Senate Committee rostrum as a representative of the group.

“It’s a real honor to have our service acknowledged by the legislature,” said Silva. “Day to day we can feel the impact we are having with children, but this recognition helps motivate us to keep doing this important service every day.”

FoodCorps is a national service organization that seeks to address childhood obesity by increasing vulnerable children’s knowledge of, engagement with, and access to healthy food. Service members build and tend school gardens, conduct nutrition education, and facilitate Farm to School programming that brings healthy, affordable local food into public schools. The program also trains a cadre of leaders for careers in food and agriculture.
Farm to Table is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting locally based agriculture through education, community outreach and networking. Farm to Table enhances marketing opportunities for farmers; encourages family farming, farmers’ markets and the preservation of agricultural traditions; influences public policy; and, furthers understanding of the links between farming, food, health and local economies.

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